Hi all. Just thought this may be of interest to those wanting a cheap solution to program their projects.

I wanted a cheap usb to ttl programmer for my arduino bits, so bought a couple of the cheapest I could find on ebay for only £1.80 - they even come with 4 female -female jumper leads http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300587914146

They worked fine but did not offer external reset so I had to manually reset my projects on upload. I worked out how to easily modify them so they could reset the processor by removing a resistor and using just a 0.1uF cap, a bit of wire (see pic).

I think this kind is a little easier to reworkhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-to-TTL-UART-6PIN-CP2102-Module-Serial-Converter-MCU-Full-Speed-12Mbps-/110918874292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d347b4b4Cut the trace going to the Reset IO pin, add a wire to connect the pin to the DTR hole. (retrolefty work-up a while ago)Depending on the "Arduino bits" you are programming, the 0.1uF cap may already be on the board (like a Promini), or it may not (your own design).I put them on mine designs so I don't have to be concerned about the USB/Serial module having one.

Off topic but I find the enthusatic, though haphazard, use of image editing on the product photo from eBay to be amusing. Why go to the trouble of adding thought ballons, etc... to your widget's picture if you don't bother to place them where they won't overlap with areas that are the same color or otherwise make them less visually discernable?

I think the cheapest arduino programmer is a free one, assuming you bought an uno r3 then you got a progrmmer as well, search the forum for arduino self isp, someone incorporated the serial to usb and a arduino as isp sketch in the 16u2 so it can program the boards 328p or another, all for the cost of 8 header pins

Maybe I should design and sell an Arduino specific USB-TTL adapter with a proper reset setup in it...

If you can do them for cheaper than £1.80 then go for it bud

Alas, the FT232 costs over £4 from my normal supplier, and my chip of choice, the MCP2200 costs about £1.25 unless you buy silly quantities. I can't seem to find a supplier for the PL2303 as yet.

So no, I can't do them for <£1.80, but I could probably do them at a competitive price considering they're designed for the Arduino and don't need modification. (By competitive I mean twice the price of the same device but without the word Arduino in the title )